Rural

I'm sure you've all had the dream, as you shout to make yourself heard over police sirens for the kids to get their shoes on, then dodge dog poo dashing them to school, before you're late to work because you got stuck in traffic/the train was late/tube was delayed.

As a nation we ask a lot of the countryside. It must feed us, attract tourists, be accessible for recreation and exercise, generate energy and store carbon. At the same time it must clean the air, provide an escape and inspiration, manage flood water, provide habitats for flora and fauna, and be a good place to live and work for rural communities. We ask all this and much more.

To say that UK farming is at a crossroads is an understatement. Food security, the rural economy and environmental management could all change beyond recognition after Brexit when the UK's relationship with the Common Agricultural Policy ends.

The CLA is exploring how countryside communities can leap ahead and achieve the ultrafast connections that will genuinely set rural businesses up for the future. Only when Government and industry show that they are looking to that horizon alongside us will they genuinely deserve the credit they crave.

Five months ago in November 2015 we packed up our house in Leicester and moved 206 miles south to a sleepy village in rural Mid-Devon. Having only visited Devon once before, when we were house hunting that August, it was a pretty radical thing to do.

The one hard-and-fast rule about a 'Plan B' is to make sure there is one. The farming industry - at the whim in recent years of foot and mouth, bovine TB, crop disease, droughts, flooding, and commodity price crashes to name but a few - understands of the importance of a fall-back plan.

From the vibrant Medina of Marrakech to the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara desert; Morocco is one diverse destination. Tasty tagines, chic riads and untouched Berber villages are just a few features of this North African nation.

In my mind my life was going to change overnight as I slotted smoothly into the community, winning marrow growing contests whilst rising to a position of power within the WI. But what's the reality? Here's what I've learnt about moving to the country, so you don't have to.

As I lay in my darkened room I came to an important conclusion. In the US, medicine is a commercial enterprise and in the UK it's a social enterprise. But in Africa medicine is hugely dependent on aid enterprise.

Those Spaniards who live within Andalucia, not included in the figures, visit other parts of their own region some 20 million times. Why? Because Andalucia is amazing! If it was a country it would be the 25th most popular, to visit, in the world.

When it comes to playing the lottery, most people understand the chances of their dream win are very slight and will shrug off a loss. With the lottery of broadband speeds in the UK on the other hand, losing out can be much more frustrating.

We were a little unsure of the place at first, as when we checked in and made our way up the grand staircase to our room, there was a kind of reverential hush about the hotel. It was the kind of feeling you might get if you were a guest at Buckingham Palace, I imagine.

Whilst regular trips to the beach and lemonades down the pub were on my parents check list, so were some more unusual activities. You see, I come from Devon where pagan traditions are kept alive, and various festivals celebrating fertility, reproduction and nature are dotted across the calendar.

To Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, for my first experience of the CLA Game Fair - Europe's largest countryside event. For those who have never been, the Fair is affectionately known as the "Glastonbury" for lovers of all things rural; an epithet that barely does justice to the scale or significance of the event.

Despite early promise and eye-catching statements like promising to be "the Greenest government ever" the Coalition has so far struggled to turnaround the anti-rural policies of previous administrations.